8. Ready For Prime Time: The Bullis Boys Record Back-to-Back Indoor National Records In The 4x200 And 4x400
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Four boys and two races was all it took.
It seemed like history happened in a flash.
But when it was all over, there was no doubt The Bullis School (Potomac, MD) boys accomplished what they had set out to do. And it was at The VA Showcase in January where Andre Turay, Ryan Willie, Jay Pendarvis and Ashton Allen combined to score high school indoor national records in both the 4x400 and 4x200 relays.
And yet, Bullis didn't just break the records ... it shattered them.
The Bulldogs didn't waver from the blueprint, either. The team's lineup was identical in both relays. Even more, Bullis' 4x200m ran 1:25.60 to become the first high school team to ever record a sub-1:26 performance. Nobody was even close -- DeMatha Catholic, which finished second, was over two seconds behind in 1:27.92.
In doing so, the Bulldogs passed Long Beach Poly's 1:26.09 effort from 2005 and became just the fifth team to break 1:27.
* The Bullis School boys after their 4x400 national record
Then came the 4x400m relay. Bullis ran 3:12.53, in similar fashion making history. The Bulldogs became the first team to break 3:13 indoors, surpassing New Bern's 3:13.06 record from 2009. The squad were also just the second team to break 3:15 indoors.
Though Bullis did have an ace up their sleeves with Ashton Allen -- who finished the year US No. 2 with a 400m best of 46.99 -- the team didn't need him to run a monstrous split in either relay.
In fact, these records are probably the only relay national records where it wasn't a once and a generation talent carrying the team on their back. The full quartet of Allen, Pendarvis, Ryan Willie and Turay made history happen by working as a team and taking care of business when it mattered most.
- Nolan Jez, MileStat.com